About this report
What Tchibo explains in this sustainability report, and how.
We began to holistically adapt our business activities to the principles of corporate responsibility in the spring of 2006. Since then, we have achieved a great deal – but we are also aware that we need to keep improving. In this sustainability report, we build on our past reporting, still guided by our high standards for its robustness and transparency.
We pursue a holistic approach to managing sustainability issues – the range of topics raised in this report reflects this. The fields of operation presented in the report are the areas of our business activity where our actions have the greatest effect on people and the environment – in terms of what we are doing as well as geographically. We use our continual communication with our stakeholders and the experience and knowledge of our corporate responsibility department as important resources for selecting these issues. In addition to describing our sustainability management system, we also provide clear and comprehensible descriptions of our activities and concrete efforts in the following areas of operation: our products’ supply chains, measures taken for our customers, environmental protection, efforts made for our employees and societal engagement.
Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines
The sustainability report follows the Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) internationally recognised guidelines, factoring in the supplementary protocol for companies in the food industry. These guidelines ensure that we describe our activities in relation to every significant sustainability issue. They also enable us to assess how our sustainability performance measures up with that of other companies. Overall, this makes our reporting more robust.
GRI: Highest Application Level A+ The Global Reporting Initiative assessed our report in July 2011 and confirmed that we reached the highest possible rating, Application Level A+. This means that we discuss all the standard information and core indicators predetermined by GRI and provide background information and reliable performance indicators if necessary. |
In 2009, we joined the United Nations’ Global Compact initiative and committed ourselves to its ten principles. The Communication on Progress for these principles is another component of this sustainability report.
External review by auditors
In 2010, auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers AG examined Tchibo’s sustainability report. Carried out in accordance with the International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000, the audit included recording and analysis of Tchibo’s systems and processes relating to sustainability management. In the scope of the audit, the following figures important for understanding our business were collected:
- Percentage of overall purchasing volume consisting of sustainable coffees from 2008 to 2010
- Tchibo social audits by type of audit from 2008 to 2010
- Tchibo social audits by country from 2008 to 2010
- Results of initial and biannual audits from 2008 to 2010
- Results of follow-up audits compared to subject areas which had previously been criticised, from 2008 to 2010
- State of auditing and certification of producers working for Tchibo since 2009
- Number of customer contacts in the customer service department in 2010
- Electricity obtained by Tchibo from 2008 to 2010
- CO2 emissions resulting from power consumption from 2008 to 2010
- Energy consumption in roasting plants from 2008 to 2010
Timeframe and location
This is Tchibo’s third sustainability report. The report’s main focus is the year 2010 (as of 31 December 2010) and encompasses all sustainability-focused activities carried out by Tchibo GmbH and its German subsidiaries. We have also included our international subsidiaries in the report, to the extent that they access centrally managed processes. We report on our activities to promote sustainability in Austria and Switzerland and describe the sustainability management system we implemented in our eastern Europe growth markets in 2009. We plan to update the report to cover the year 2011 during the third quarter of 2012.
The report also comprises information about activities which we carried out before and after the reporting period up until the editorial deadline at the end of March 2011. This ensures that the report is up-to-date and that readers can fully understand our performance without any gaps in information.
The sustainability report is exclusively available online in German and English and is available as a downloadable PDF document.
Collecting data
Up until now, Tchibo has collected information in individual departments by means of various data management systems. In the future, we want to make sure that we uniformly and comprehensively collect, evaluate and monitor our information relevant to sustainability. With this goal in mind, we will evaluate the need for an electronic data management system and take a decision on introducing and implementing such a system.